American voter support for same-sex marriage is inching up and now stands at 47 - 43 percent,
including 54 - 38 percent among Catholic voters, according to a Quinnipiac University poll
released today.

This compares to a 48 - 46 percent statistical tie among all voters on same-sex marriage
December 5 and reverses the 55 - 36 percent opposition in a July, 2008, survey by the
independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University.

Among all adult Catholics, 52 percent say the Church is moving in the right direction,
while 31 percent say it is going in the wrong direction.

Church leaders are out of touch with the views of Catholics in America today, all
Catholics say 52 - 40 percent. Men say out of touch, 54 - 37 percent, while women agree by a
smaller 49 - 43 percent margin.

The next pope should move the Church in new directions, 55 percent of Catholics say,
while 38 percent say the pope should maintain the current direction.

"Catholic voters are leading American voters toward support for same-sex marriage,"
said Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. "Among
all voters, there is almost no gender gap, but a big age gap. Voters 18 to 34 years old support
same sex marriage 62 - 30 percent; voters 35 to 54 years old are divided 48 - 45 percent and
voters over 55 are opposed 50 - 39 percent.

"Voters in military households are divided with 43 percent in favor and 45 percent
opposed."

"Looking at all adult Catholics, different from the wider survey of all registered voters,
we see a conflicted group: a slim majority say the Church is moving in the right direction while
slim majorities say Church leaders are out of touch with their views and the next pope should
change directions," Brown added.

American Catholics say 62 - 30 percent that the next pope should allow priests to marry
and say 64 - 28 percent, including 68 - 24 percent among women, that he should relax the
church ban on contraception.

Under the next pope, Catholics say 81 - 13 percent, the Church should do more to
combat sexual abuse of young people by priests.

Catholics agree 59 - 35 percent that clergy should not be allowed to run for and serve in
public office.

By a 51 - 41 percent margin, Catholics support Present Barack Obama's position that
religious-based institutions, such as hospitals and universities, must arrange for their insurance
companies to provide birth control coverage for employees.

Among Catholics, 16 percent have a very favorable opinion of Pope Benedict XVI, with
58 percent favorable, 15 percent unfavorable and 3 percent very unfavorable.

Religion is very important in their life, 57 percent of Catholics say, while 33 percent say
fairly important and 9 percent say not very important.

From February 27 - March 4, Quinnipiac University surveyed 497 adults Catholics with
a margin of error of +/- 4.4 percent. The same-sex marriage question was asked of 1,944
registered voters nationwide with a margin of error of +/- 2.2 percentage points. Live
interviewers call land lines and cell phones.

The Quinnipiac University Poll, directed by Douglas Schwartz, Ph.D., conducts public
opinion surveys in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Florida, Ohio, Virginia
and the nation as a public service and for research.

For more information or RSS feed, visit http://www.quinnipiac.edu/polling.xml, or call
(203) 582-5201, or follow us on Twitter.

38. As you may know, in 2012 President Obama announced a new policy on health insurance and birth control. Under the rule, if a religious-based institution, such as a Catholic hospital or university, objects to providing birth control coverage to its workers, its insurance company must pay for the coverage instead. Do you support or oppose this requirement?